Photographer Terje Sørgje is obsessed with light in the Arctic, the incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing glow given off as the sun rises and sets in the spring. Lucky for us, he transformed the photographs he captured during his most recent trip, from April 29 - May 10 on Norway’s Lofoten archipelago, into the remarkable film above.

“The sunset and sunrise are connected in one magnificent show of color and light lasting from 8 to 12 hours,” says Sørgje. “The sun is barely going below the horizon before coming up again. This is the most colorful light that I know, and the main reason I have been going up there for the last four years, at the exact same time of year, to photograph.”

The stunning images belie the difficult conditions Sørgje experienced. “If you can imagine roping down mountain cliffs, or jumping around on slippery rocks covered in seaweed with two tripods, a rail, a controller, camera, lenses, filters and rigging for four- to five-hour long sequences at a time, and then having to calculate the rise and fall of the tides in order to capture the essence—it all proved bit of a challenge.”

Indeed, Sørgje slipped into the frigid Arctic waters and had to swim ashore, suffered broken equipment, lost an entire dolly rig and controllers to the sea, and endured a hospital stay after falling off a rock. “I am glad I stuck it through though because there were some amazing sunrises waiting,” says Sørgje.

See for yourself. At 1:06 you see a single scene from day to night to day.

Marika Takeuchi composed and performed the music. Click here for a higher quality version of the video on Vimeo, and follow Sørgje on Facebook.

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